Friday, October 24, 2008

Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason continued to hammer away at the government's malign neglect of children in need this week:

"The government does not care or would have fixed the system years ago, and still the minister refuses to resign," Mason said. Mason noted that dozens of youths in government care are forced to stay in shelters, hostels and motels every night, and questioned why it continues."For some Alberta children, the system that was supposed to protect them has become a gulag," he said. Stevens reiterated the government position that Tarchuk, the minister of children and youth services, will not be fired. Tarchuk was in her constituency and didn't attend question period.Instead, Stevens questioned why the NDP and Liberals have not signed on to confidentiality agreements that would allow them to view the quarterly reports identifying major issues facing children under the government's watch.

Mason fired back that this was a complete lie, and asked for the Speaker to rule on a point of privilege. Speaker Ken Kowalski had to admit that the evidence was clear that the agreements Stevens referred to - were only delivered to the NDP's office during the question periodafter the Deputy Premier sneered at the opposition for not having signed them yet.

Speaker Ken Kowalski, a Tory MLA, sided with Mason on the issue, noting the confidentiality agreement was received in NDP offices in the middle of question period, after the exchange occurred.

So the government's response to their own flouting of reporting laws, and the horrific state of child welfare in Canada's richest province is to play deceptive little distraction games to score points in the legislature that are so sleazy that even their own Speaker has to take issue with them

An American right wing pro-life columnist named Kevin Williamson has done us the good service of taking the pro-life 'Abortion is murde...

Cliff

My Political Compass reads -7.00 / -5.74 which means essentially a lefty libertarian. I've been a union activist and delegate, worked as a lobbyist in Ottawa and ran for office provincially in Alberta for the NDP. I've also worked as a journalist and editor and had fiction published.